Squaring up “Morning Breeze”

It’s been an intense two weeks for me: a week-long visit to see my son in Maine followed by almost round-the-clock work to hit a deadline.

I’ll write a post about my trip to Maine later this week-it was a fabulous visit!

“Black and White Whole Cloth” is finally done and now has a name: “Morning Breeze”. I’ll be writing on occasion about the making of Morning Breeze.

Once it was finally done it needed to be squared up. (I can’t share full-on photos until it shows.) I wanted to make sure that it hung well and was properly centered. Since it is a whole cloth quilt, I could not rely on piecing lines to set my center, corners, etc. So I grabbed my very simple laser level to help me.

A laser level is a very useful tool -it is the longest “straight edge” in your quilting tool box. When you have a long edge, like the 70” length on this quilt, you’d have to stack rulers to get down the entire length if you weren’t using a laser level. Some error or wobble is likely to occur. With the laser, this will not be the case-it’s dead on accurate for the entire length.

I set the center of my quilt first. Before I even began to quilt this piece I had carefully marked my center and sides. But, when you QTD (Quilt The Dickens) out of a piece, those lines are going to go wavy on you after quilting. On this piece, the sides fluctuated quite a bit after quilting. I used my laser level to set a perfectly straight line down the length of the middle of the quilt-all the rest of my lines worked from there.

It’s really helpful, but not necessary, to have some Basset supervision to assure that the process goes smoothly and accurately.

I marked the center with a blue wash-out marker.Then to set my top and bottom edges I used my 22” square Omnigrid. I snuggled it up against that marked center line, then put my 36” skinny Omnigrid next to that to set my bottom and top edges.

I used the t-square at the corners to assure that they were 45 degrees. I then used the laser to project my line all the way across the quilt.

My table sloped just a little and the laser light was higher than the surface of the quilt at the far end. So I just stuck an index card at the end and used it to show where the laser was pointing. I snuggled my ruler up to the point on the card and marked my side.

This whole process worked really well for me and the quilt is dead-on square. The laser helps this process a lot!

As an aside, my laser level only projects one line-it was $15. For a bit more-around $40, you can get one that will project 2 lines at a 90 degree angle for corners. That would be really useful and I’ll probably eventually get one of those.

Also, I had a disastrous moment with this marking pencil. I heavily marked what I thought was to be the side of the quilt. Because the quilting distorted the edges I originally marked, my sides ended up about an inch outside the lines I marked. Yikes, that meant those heavy marks were showing!

I had to get them out. My first attempt was with Dawn soap-an excellent grease cutter. I did not know the content of this mystery pencil but I thought it probably had some wax, so the Dawn was a logical choice. It did not make a dent in the stain.

On a whim, I tried Fels-Naptha, an old-fashioned laundry aid that my Mom used. With some light scrubbing with a soft tooth brush, the stain came right up-yessss! It feels good to be done. Now I just have to figure out what I’ll be working on next. I’m itching to do some garment sewing….

Thanks jenny, I so enjoy your Blog.
I am making a couple of blouses with a Kwik sew pattern. They are great patterns. First time using them. They are incredibly accurate. ,like lego pieces going together. Channel jackets to come Yes?

Laser levels are the best. I use a lot of tools from my son’s carpenter ‘bag’ and I love to cruise the aisles of the hardware stores. Hope your corners are really 90 degrees, not 45! Can’t wait to see this quilt. It looks fabulous!

Laser levels are the best and got knowledge from http://www.laserlevelhub.com/ . I utilize a ton of apparatuses from my child’s woodworker “sack” and I want to journey the passageways of the handyman shops. Trust your corners are truly 90 degrees, not 45! Can hardly wait to see this coverlet. It looks amazing. Thanks Jenny.

Thanks for the wonderful tutorials. Many years ago, I found this recipe for removing quilting markings:
3 parts alcohol, 1 part water and a few drops of mild detergent like Ivory liquid. (Probably Dawn would be better.) It has worked on every marking pen I’ve tried, and you don’t have to find Fels Naptha.

Also want to share that a French basset works well as a quilting companion, even while asleep!